Indian summer

Today is the 8th of November. It's autumn and yet the weather is mild: it's sunny and warm (about 24º C), there's no wind... It's not the weather you might expect in autumn. That's what is called an Indian Summer, a term that, originated in the USA and Canada, is becoming more widely used in the UK, where this spell of good weather in the middle of the autumn is known as "All Hallows summer" or "St. Martin's summer" (In Spain we say "Veranillo de San Martín") because it hapens around the Day of St Martin, that is, the 11th of November. So, if it's got a name, it's not so strange to get warm days in November, is it?

Indian summer
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But where does this expression come from? It was first used in North America around the 1770s, but the origin is not certain. Some say that it was the Indians that pointed it out to the European settlers. Others say that during this spell of good weather the Indians renewed their attacks on the settlers. Whatever its origin, the expression is here to stay and it's already in use in other English speaking countries apart from North America.

Indian summer is the title of a song, a film, a festival,..

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By extension, it also means a pleasant period of someone's life, especially when they are older:

• After marrying his new wife at the age of 59, he entered into the Indian summer of his life. 
• She is in the Indian summer of her career.

Apart from Indian summer, there are other proverbs and idioms related to the seasons and the weather. Here are a few:

• One swallow does not make a summer, meaning that because one good thing has happened does not mean that others will follow:  Her latest book was a success, but a swallow does not make a summer. She still has to prove that she is a good writer.
• To buy straw hats in winter is mainly used in the stock market and it means to buy when demand and prices are low in order to sell when the prices are higher so as to make big profit.
• In the dead of winter means in the middle of winter, when it is the coldest:  In the dead of winter, just when it was colder, she came out wearing just a skimpy dress and no coat on. 
• No spring chicken is used to refer to people who are no longer young: Stop doing that. You're no spring chicken!
• To be full of the joys of spring is to be very happy. Look at him, he's full of the joys of spring.
• Autumn years are the later years of a person, especially after retirement: In the autumn years of his life he took up painting.
• Make hay while the sun shines means to make the most of opportunities when they come: Now that the children are at school, I'll set to work in my book. I'll make hay while the sun shines.
• To be / feel under the weather is not to feel well: I won't go out today. I'm feeling a bit under the weather.
• It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. This proverb means that even the worst events can be beneficial for someone: After the fire in the building, many workers were given jobs to repair it. It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
• Come rain or come shine / rain or shine: no matter what the weather is like, in any case: After a long week working in the office we'll go out at the weekend come rain or come shine.

The following presentation can help you remember these idioms. Try to complete them and then remember their meaning. 

In this song by Stereophonics you can hear the expression Indian summer:



In this other song, Frank Sinatra says that he is going to love his sweetheart come rain or come shine; that is, in any case, no matter what life brings about. Enjoy it!

New Year celebrations

Today is the last day of the year and millions of people will be celebrating the arrival of the new year in many parts of the world. However, it will not be new year for everybody: the Jewish, the Muslims, the Chinese... even orthodox christian countries follow a different calendar.
Wherever January 1st is New Year, celebrations typically include big parties, fireworks and champagne. But there are many variations. Today, we are going to see what people in Britain do when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st.

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After a special, copious dinner (at home or out) people get ready for the countdown. Many wear party hats and masks and blow noise makers. Some people go out to see the fireworks display while others prefer to watch them on television.

The fireworks in London are so impressive and so many people want to see them live that the authorities have decided to play it safe by restricting the audience. So, this year, if you want to see the fireworks live you have to pay 10 pounds, and you wouldn't believe it but all the tickets have sold out! If you want to see how impressive this display is, have a look at this video:



When the clock strikes twelve, people kiss each other, then make a circle and join hands as they start singing Auld Lang Syne, which is a traditional Scottish song that has become the hymn for New Year's Eve because it symbolises endings and new beginnings. The lyrics was written by the poet Robert burns in 1788, but the music is much older and its author unknown. The song is written in Scots, a dialect of English spoken in Scotland, that's why it's difficult to understand.

Singing Auld Lang Syne
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In the following video you can read the original lyrics and a translation into modern English:



And talking about Scotland, the New Year celebrations there are called Hogmanay, and they stretch for two or three days. For the Scots, it's as important as Christmas. Hogmanay, whose roots go back to the old celebrations of the winter solstice before christianity reached these lands, is celebrated in different ways in each city or town of the country. In the following video we can see how they celebrate it in the capital, Edinburgh.



It goes without saying that after Auld Lang Syne, the music, dancing and champagne (or Cava) drinking goes on for hours till the early morning when you can see groups of people going back home to sleep it off.
And, like Ella Fitzgerald, I'll ask you: "What are you doing New Year's Eve?"

Happy New Year!

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The names of the months

Sometimes I hear people complain about the uselessness of learning Latin. "It's a dead language", they say, "Nobody speaks it any more"... While it's true that it has stopped being the lingua franca, that is, the language in which people from different parts of the world were able to communicate, it's a matter of fact that the Western World is hugely indebted to the culture and language of the Romans, for so much of our own culture derives from it.

Latin is not dead
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The calendar is a feature that reminds us of how indebted we are to the Romans. To begin with, the very word calendar comes from Kalenda, which was the first day of the month in Latin.

The old Roman calendar used to have ten months and the priests had to add some days at the end so that it kept with the solar year. Later, King Numa changed it to a 12 month year, adding January and February, which became the last months of the year.

Let's have a look at the names of the months in Latin:

•  March. The Romans started the year with the month of Martius, devoted to Mars, the God of war. It was in this month when soldiers started their training.
• April. Aprilis was devoted to the goddess Venus, and although it is uncertain where the name comes from, the Romans thought it came from aprire, which means to open.
• May (Maius) derives its name from the goddess Maia, to whom a sow (female pig) was sacrificed on the first day of the month. Maia, mother of Mercury, was an earth goddess who promoted growth.
• June. The month of Junius is devoted to Juno, Jupiter's wife and mother of several gods and goddesses.
• July was originally called Quintilis, because it was the fifth month. (Remember that the year started in March). However, following Julius Caesar's death, it was called after him. 
• August was originally Sextillis, that is the sixth month. Later, they changed its name for that of Octavius Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.
• September is called so because it was originally the seventh month. Septem means "seven".
• October used to be the eighth month. Octo is eight.
• November comes from nove, or ninth month.
• December was the tenth month, as decem means "ten".
• January was named in honour of the god Janus, the deity related to beginnings and ends. He has two faces, one looking to the past, the other to the future.
• February was the month of the purification rituals caled Februa, which used to be carried out in the middle of this month.

Janus
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Some time in the second century BC, the order of the months was changed, and January became the first month and February the second, and so those months that had been named after ordinal numbers bore no relation to their original meanings any more.

It was Julius Caesar who, influenced by the Egyptian calendar, decided to make a new calendar that syncronized with the solar year. He decided that all twelve months should have 30 or 31 days, except February, which should have 29 and add one day once every four years, making it 30. However, when Octavius Augustus died and the month Sextilis was named after him, the Senate decided to add one day to this month, so that it had as many days as Julius's month, and they took this day from February, leaving it with just 28 days.

Julius caesar
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Ceasar's calendar had to be reformed in the 16th Century by Pope Gregory XIII. The astrologists acknowledged that the spring equinox was happening on the 11th of March when it had to happen on the 21st, so they realized that there must be a mistake: the Julian calendar added one day every four years, believing that it took the earth 365.25 days to go around the sun, when in fact, it takes ten minutes less, 365.242, to be exact. A reformation was needed, so they decided to take action and shorten the year 1582 in ten days, and reduce the number of leap years so that those ending in 00 wouldn't be leap years any more, with the exception of those which are divisible by 400. So, the year 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was one.

Pope Gregory XIII
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This reform was immediately accepted in all the Catholic countries, but not in Protestant, Orthodox or Anglican countries. In Britain and its colonies it was adopted in the year 1752. That's why, although they say that Cervantes and Shakespeare died on the same day (23rd of April, 1616), this is not true, because the latter died ten days later, on May 5th, according to the Gregorian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar is not perfect, as it seems that it will have to be reformed by the year 3300. But, who is going to witness that day? And who's gonna care? 

Now do this quiz to see how much you have learnt:

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Traditional Easter food in Britain

Chocolate eggs are undoubtedly the most popular Easter food in Britain, but by no means the only one. Hot cross buns, roast lamb, Easter biscuits in the shape of bunnies and Simnel cake are not to be sniffed at. Today, we are going to have a look at some of these traditional recipes.

Egg hunt
Image by Simon Greig in Flickr

As we said in a previous post, eggs have traditionally been related to spring and the beginning of life, and from the early stages of Christianity, they symbolized the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the cross. Today, boiled eggs are still eaten at Easter, but the chocolate egg has become the most popular in the last years, being the traditional present that people give away to family and friends.
In the following video, we can hear a short history of the Easter egg.


Apart from boiled eggs, Easter biscuits are eaten for breakfast and also for tea. They are traditionally made with currants and spices, but they can also be made with other ingredients and in the shape of eggs or bunnies. Here is a recipe for traditional Easter biscuits.

Easter biscuits
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For the main meal on Easter Sunday, roast lamb is served with mint sauce and vegetables. Lamb symbolizes Christ, who is known as "the Lamb of God". But before the Christians, lamb was already used by the Jews to celebrate Passover, which roughly coincides with Easter. It all started more than 3000 years ago, when the Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses wanted to free them. The Pharaoh refused to let them go, so God sent a series of plagues, the last one of which was the death of the firstborn sons. To spare the Jewish children, God told them to sacrifice a lamb and paint the lintels of their doors with its blood, so that the angel of death would pass over their houses and leave their offspring unhurt. That's why the Jews call this festivity "Pesach", or "Passover". When Jesus entered Jerusalem he told his Apostles to prepare the Passover meal, and they probably ate lamb at the Last Supper.

Easter roast lamb
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For tea, in many households people like to make Simnel cake, which is a delicious fruit cake with layers of marzipan and decorated with eleven marzipan balls which symbolize the twelve Apostles except Judas, who gave Jesus away. In this video we can watch how to make one of these.



And last but not least, my favourite: the scrumptious hot cross buns, which are served hot with butter. They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, but I start to eat them as soon as I see them in the shops, which can be as early as February! You can watch how they are made in this video.

One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns!
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Finally, try this exercise to see how much you have learnt.
Traditional Easter food

Happy Easter!

The Christmas Tree

In a previous post, I wrote about Santa Claus being a symbol of Christmas all over the world. Another such symbol is the Christmas tree, but it's not something that has existed for a long time. In fact, it is quite recent, compared to the two thousand years or so of Christianity.
A Christmas tree is usually a fir, a spruce or, in general, an evergreen tree  with a characteristic conical shape, which is decorated with lights, baubles and other objects, and which can be kept inside or outside the home.

The Disney Christmas Tree
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The origin of the Christmas tree can be found in pre-Christian central Europe, when people used to take branches of evergreen plants, including mistletoe and holly inside their homes around the winter solstice to keep bad spirits away. As with many other customs, the arrival of Christianity meant that many of these pagan customs merged and mingled with those of the new religion.

Mistletoe berries	Holly

During the Middle Ages, people used to enact a religious play on Christmas Eve. In this play, a fir with apples and wafers on its branches symbolised the paradise tree from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Even after these plays ceased to be enacted, people continued associating the paradise tree and Christmas.

It was in 18th century Protestant Germany where Christmas trees became popular, and from there they spread to other countries in Europe, taken by the nobility. One of the first descriptions of a Christmas tree in literature is in Goethe's "Werther" (1774). It was Queen Victoria, in the 19th century, who introduced the Christmas tree in Britain, as her mother and husband were both German and brought the tradition with them into the country.

Queen Victoria's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle
Image adapted for Godey's lady's Book
in Wikipedia

In America, German immigrants had brought the tradition of the Christmas tree, but it didn't really catch up until the image of Queen Victoria's tree was published in a popular magazine of the 1850s called Godey's Lady's Book. (See picture above). By the 1860s the Christmas trees could be found in thousands of homes and cities in America.

Some Catholic people didn't like this tradition, as it was seen as a pagan custom, and they preferred to set up a Nativity scene, but after Pope Paul VI decided to put up a Christmas Tree in the Vatican, even the most reluctant Catholics gave up and now they have both in their homes.

Christmas tree and Nativity scene at the Vatican
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Today, thanks to globalization, Christmas trees can be seen all over the world, and even people who are not Christian like to put one up in their homes. However, in some cities in America, they are trying to change its name to "Holiday tree", so as to deprive it of its religious connotations.

Now we can learn a few words related to the Christmas tree in the following presentation:

In this video you can hear a short history of the Christmas tree and then do the comprehension exercises.

 Fancy doing some quizzes? Revise the vocabulary of Christmas in this game, or try this Christmas Trivia.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas!

Glitterfy.com - Christmas Glitter Graphics

Groundhog Day: an American tradition

On February 2nd, a curious ceremony takes place in several American States: a group of men dressed in tuxedos and wearing tall hats go to a groundhog’s den and wake him from his hibernation. As the poor creature gets out of his burrow, the men watch his behaviour. Two things can happen:  If he gets frightened by his shadow and he goes back to the protection of his lair, that means that there will be still several more weeks of cold winter weather. However, if he decides to stay, the forecast is that spring will come early.

Groundhog Day
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The most famous groundhog in America is Punxsutawney Phil, from Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania. According to his followers, Phil is the true and only weather forecasting groundhog, and the others are just impostors. They also sustain that there has only been one Phil and that he goes on living thanks to some secret recipe punch that he drinks during the summer: just a sip gives him seven more years’ life. Of course, this must be taken with a pinch of salt, as it is known that a groundhog lives only for seven or eight years.

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This tradition of weather forecasting was introduced in America by German immigrants, who in their homeland used to watch the behaviour of hedgehogs on Candlemas for their predictions. They also had some proverbs about the weather:
“If Candlemas is mild and pure,
Winter will be long for sure.”
“If Candlemas brings
wind and snow,
Then spring will very soon show.
But if it's clear and bright,
Then spring won't come so right.”
For the translation of these proverbs see this page.

But why was the religious festivity of Candlemas chosen as the day of the prediction? Candlemas was celebrated on February 2nd, which is right in the middle of the winter, between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and thus it is the right time to make a guess whether the long-awaited spring is near.

Unfortunately, our little friend Phil is not very reliable, as only about 40% of his predictions turn out to be true. Anyway, each year this tradition draws thousands of people to the home of this cute rodent and puts a warm smile upon our faces in the long dreary winter.

In the following video we can learn a bit more about the habits of these animals (also called woodchucks) that are related to squirrels. Then you can answer the questions below. Happy Groundhog’s Day!


For more information, visit http://www.groundhog.org/

Christmas Down Under

The traditional idea of Christmas is that of a cold, snowy day in which families get together around a fireplace, but, although Christmas is celebrated all over the world, not everywhere is it winter at this time of year. While in most countries in the north it's freezing cold, in the southern hemisphere it's summer, and instead of warming up near the fire, people are getting a tan under the sun.

Christmas Day on Bondi Beach, Australia
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One of these countries in which people bask in the sun at Christmas is Australia, or Down Under, as it is widely known. Due to the weather, their Christmas is a bit different from that of northern countries, but not that different, as they still have Santa, Christmas trees and stockings. However, you will much more easily see Santa on a surf board rather than a sleigh!

Santa surfing
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 Let's have a look at this presentation to see how similar or different Christmas in Australia is.

Christmas in Australia from Angela Ruiz Montero

In the following video, Brian Sutton sings about a typical Christmas Day in Australia. But before watching it, let's see the meaning of a few words you may not know, as they are Australian slang words:

• Billabong: a water hole in a dried up river.
• Coolabah: a eucalyptus tree and a brand of wine.
• Esky: a cooler, a portable, insulated container for keeping food and drinks cold. It's a shortened version of the trade name "Eskimo Box".
• Barbie: barbecue (or BBQ).
• Aussie: Australian.
• Stubbie: a small short necked bottle of beer.

You can look up more Austalian slang in http://australiandictionary.net

Can you answer a few questions on Christmas Down Under now?

Whether in Australia or anywhere else in the world, I wish you a very happy Christmas!

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A British culture quiz

I usually tell my students that in order to learn a language, not only grammar and vocabulary are needed, but also a good knowledge of the culture of the people that speak that language. But what is culture?

Culture is...
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The term culture comprises not only the arts but also the language, the religion, the social habits, the cuisine, the history and the traditions of a particular people. As you can see, language is only a piece of the puzzle and to understand it better, you need to take a wider look and try to comprehend the other parts.

As a learner of English, how much do you know about British Culture? Find out by doing this quiz. Take a pen and a piece of paper and write down your answers. Finally, find out how many answers you got right in the answer key. But don't cheat!

British Culture Quiz09 from eoi.soraya

Bonfire night: the story of Guy Fawkes

On the evening of November 5th, thousands of bonfires are lit and fireworks exploded all over Britain. Many groups of children make their guy or dummy, which is an effigy of Guy Fawkes, they take it to the bonfire and burn it there to the merriment of all and sundry. Previously, the children have taken their dummy from house to house asking for “a penny for the guy”, and that money is later spent in fireworks.

Children asking for a penny for the guy
Image credits

But who is this Guy Fawkes that is burnt in effigy every year? Well, he certainly isn’t famous for being a nice person. In fact, he was a traitor who tried to blow the Houses of Parliament and kill the king. But, fortunately for the king, the plot was found out and those responsible for it were executed. Then, as an act of remembrance, it was ordered that every year the 5th of November should be an official day for celebration, and British people still celebrate it to this day.

Guy Fawkes
Image credits

However, safety regulations regarding fireworks and the lighting of bonfires in public places, has made it quite different from what it used to be some decades ago. Now bonfires are only allowed in certain open spaces and children cannot handle fireworks as they are much too dangerous for them. Older people feel that the festivity is not what it used to be any more, but for young children it’s still a possibility of having a good time out, watching the firework display and  feeling the heat of the flames in a cold autumn evening.

Guy burning on top of a bonfire
Image credits

In the following presentation by the Parliament’s Education Service we have an account of the gunpowder plot.

Now you can watch this video and answer the questions to see how much you have learnt about the story of Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot.

The names of the days of the week

While it is rather clear that Sunday is the day of the sun and Monday the day of the moon, where does Tuesday or Wednesday get their names from? Are they all related to the names of the planets?

The first thing that springs to my mind is why there are seven days in the week. We are so much used to it that it may seem natural to us, but nothing related to the calendar is natural. It’s just a convention, a system humans invented to divide time, and it’s not perfect, as most things made by humans.

A T-shirt for each of the seven days of the week.
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The seven day week came into use in Roman times after the Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC. However, both the Jews and the Babylonians had used it before: in the Bible, God is said to have created the world in six days and needed the seventh to have a rest, while the Babylonians divided the lunar month in four seven day periods.
It was the Greeks and later the Romans, who always followed in the steps of the Greeks, who started to call the days of the week after the main celestial bodies that were seen from the earth, and of course, these bodies were called after their main gods and goddesses.

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Apart from the day of the sun (dies solis) and the moon (dies lunae), they had dies martis for Mars, god of war, dies mercurii for Mercury, god of commerce, dies iovis for Jupiter, the father of the gods and responsible for thunder and lightning, dies veneri for Venus, goddess of love, and dies saturni for Saturn, god of agriculture.
Most of these names still survive in Romance languages, with some exceptions such as the change of Sunday for “the day of the lord” or dominicus dies, which gave “domingo” in Spanish or “dimanche” in  French. A different case is Portuguese, which changed the names of these pagan gods for ordinal numbers.
The Germanic peoples, however, substituted the names of Roman gods with their own, forgetting in this way that week days owed their names to the planets. They also used their own words for sun and moon. English being a Germanic language, it kept the names of these, and so we have:

• Tuesday: the day of the god Tiw or Twia, the god of war.
• Wednesday: the day of Woden or Odin. He was the carrier of the dead.
• Thursday: the day of Thor, god of thunder.
• Friday: the day of Freya, goddess of love, beauty and fertility.
• Saturday: the day of Saturn, the only Roman god they kept.

Finally, remember that it’s not the same to say “day of the week” or “weekday”. The former is any day of the week, while the latter is used for work days, that is from Monday to Friday, excluding Saturday and Sunday.

A good song to practise the days of the week is “Friday I’m in love” by The Cure. Enjoy!

Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee

It was sixty years ago when Elizabeth Windsor became Queen of England. When she was born, nobody could imagine that one day she would be crowned, because it wasn’t her father but her uncle Edward who was the king. However, an unprecedented event turned things over. Edward VIII was in love with a twice divorced American lady called Wallis Simpson, who wouldn’t be accepted as queen by the government. He had to choose between his throne or the woman he loved and he decided to abdicate. So, it was Elizabeth’s father who became king under the name of George VI.

 The official picture of the Queen on her accession to the throne in February 1952. (Getty Images) 

These days, the people of the United Kingdom are celebrating that their queen has been in the throne for 60 years, and this celebration is called the Diamond Jubilee. They previously celebrated the Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) and Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) back in 1977 and 2002 respectively.

The celebrations started in February 2012, but the most important events will take place between the 2nd and 5th of June. One of the most colourful will be the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, a spectacular ceremony in which more than a thousand boats will accompany the Queen’s barge: it will be one of the largest flotillas ever assembled on the river Thames.

Image by Katybird in Flickr

The following video summarises the life of Queen Elizabeth with its ups and downs. You can answer the questions after watching it.

England, Great Britain or United Kingdom?

Recently, I commented with my students on the news that Scotland is to hold a referendum to regain independence, and I was surprised to see how confused they were about the fact that Scotland is a nation that forms part of a bigger country: the United Kingdom.
In fact, the correct name of the country is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, and it is formed by four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Great Britain is the name of the biggest island in the archipelago of the British Isles, formed also by Ireland and many other smaller isles.

The British Isles
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Great Britain is divided into three nations: England, Scotland and Wales.

• England is the largest territory and the most populated in the country. It’s capital is London and people there speak English. The National Day is St. George’s Day (April 23rd).

England flag

Coat of arms

Emblem: England rose

• Scotland lies to the north of England, and is part of the United Kingdom since the Acts of Union of 1707. It is not so densely populated as England. It’s capital is Edinburgh. The official language is English, but most people also speak Scots, which is a language derived from English, and only 1.5 % of the population speak Scottish Gaelic, which is a Celtic language. The National Day is St. Andrew’s day (November 30th)

Scotland flag

Coat of arms

Emblem: Thistle

• Wales lies to the west of England. It was conquered by king Edward I of England in the 13th century. It’s capital is Cardiff. The Welsh speak English and Welsh, which is a Celtic language.  The National Day is St. David’s Day (March 1st).

Wales flag

Coat of arms

Emblems: leek and daffodil

The second biggest island, Ireland, is divided in two:

• The Republic of Ireland or Eire, which is an independent country since 1922, so it is not part of the United Kingdom. Its capital is Dublin, and people speak English and Irish, which is a Celtic language.
• Northern Ireland or Ulster is the smaller territory that lies in the northeast of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Belfast and people speak English and Irish. The National Day is St. Patrick’s Day (March, 17th)

St. Patrick's flag (Northern Ireland)

Republic of Irleand  flag

Emblem: shamrock

We have seen the flags of all the territories that conform the United Kingdom, but as a country, it also has a flag: the Union Jack, which is formed by the union of the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland, as you can see in the following video.

The Welsh flag is not included in the Union Jack because Wales was part of England long before the United Kingdom was born.
This is explained in this video by C.G.P. Grey. Even though he speaks too quickly for students of English to understand, I hope the subtitles can be helpful.

Teachers of English may be interested in this webquest by Joao Jardim Fernandes.

Finally, let’s check how much we have learnt about the UK today with the following test. By the way, the acronym UK stands for United Kingdom.